Random News and Notes 24 February

Today marks the official start of Operation Desert Saber, the ground offensive of the overarching Operation Desert Storm. There had been small scale offensive coalition actions prior to the 24th, mostly recce and skirmishing. After an initial artillery preparation, the Coalition crossed into Iraq, overrunning the prepared Iraqi positions with a speed that astonished the planners.

35 years ago, your editor was a young Paratrooper NCO in charge of a scout platoon weapons section in HHC 325th Infantry (Airborne) [2nd BCT 82nd Airborne Division] attached to the French Division Daguet way out on the left flank of the US led coalition arrayed against Saddam Hussein and Iraq. He was among the first ground troops in Saudi Arabia, landing at KKMC on 7 August 1990.

We were there to kick Saddam out of Kuwait. General Norman Schwarzkopf would be in overall command.

100 hours later, ground combat would end with a Soviet brokered cease-fire. All told, some 292 coalition personnel dead and another 776 wounded. The Iraqis weren’t so lucky. Between 20 and 50 thousand Iraqis lost their lives and another 75,000 were injured. And that number doesn’t include civilian losses, which were substantial.

Normally, this story wouldn’t get much coverage, but it’s a slow-ish day so. . .

In-N-Out Burger reported an estimated $2.355 billion in U.S. sales for 2025 from its 415 locations, averaging $5.7 million per store thanks to popular items like Double-Doubles and Animal Style fries. The WNBA brought in roughly $200-300 million that year from tickets, sponsorships, and media, marking its first revenue-sharing payout of $8 million to players.

Being on the East Coast, this editor has never eaten at an In-N-Out. He has also not seen more than highlights of a WNBA game. Still, it’s amusing that a smallish, regional fast food chain makes more money than a sports league.

There isn’t much provenance for this video, so take it with a grain of salt. A group of Canadian tourists were caught looting an Oxxo convenience store in Puerto Vallarta. A man carrying a Canadian flag bag walks off with goods despite heckling, while a local yells, ‘I’m Mexican and you should be ashamed,’ amid littered trash and damaged doors.

There were people trying to justify this across Twitter, but theft is theft and entitlement is entitlement.

On February 23, 2026, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino ordered the seizure of Balboa and Cristóbal ports—flanking the Panama Canal—from CK Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company after the Panama Supreme Court ruled the 1997 concessions and 2021 extension unconstitutional. CK Hutchison is a CCP linked maritime services company based in Hong Kong.

Denmark’s Maersk took over Pacific-side Balboa, while Switzerland’s MSC assumed Atlantic-side Cristóbal, ensuring cranes, systems, and operations continued without disruption. CK Hutchison decried the move as unlawful, halted its systems, removed staff under threat of prosecution, and launched arbitration over $1.8 billion in investments with no compensation; Mulino insisted no expropriation occurred and jobs remain secure.

This is a major blow for the CCP and their Belt and Road initiative. It is a major win for President Trump’s agenda. And it is the best thing to happen to Panama since 20 December 1989.

The Navy has seized another dark fleet tanker. This time it is the M/T Bertha, a Cook Islands flagged VLCC, has been on the US sanctions list since 2022. She was the last remaining oil-laden tanker from the original sixteen vessels that broke through the U.S. Navy blockade on January 3.

The boarding of Bertha comes just days after U.S. forces intercepted the Veronica III on February 15 in the South Indian Ocean, laden with Venezuelan fuel oil and crude oil.